


Busted and Blue

by alswl



Series: Humanz [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Diners, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, an attempt at writing while sleep deprived, there's some cursing in this so pls lmk if i should change the rating to mature
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-11-09 08:03:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11100375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alswl/pseuds/alswl
Summary: Wonwoo encounters several interesting characters from his college at the local diner between the hours of midnight and dawn in a city that never sleeps.





	Busted and Blue

_10:13pm_

“More coffee for you?” 

Wonwoo rejects the offer with a small shake of the head, barely lifting his eyes from the page.

“You want something else off the menu? You’ve barely touched your onion rings.”

“Junhui, it’s fine,” Wonwoo answers dismissively, reaching for an onion ring and nibbling at it as he turns the page.

“What book is that, anyway?” The tall, dark-haired waiter with a rather angular jawline bends down and tilts his head to the side, slowly reading the title out loud. Wonwoo sets the half-eaten onion ring back down on the plate. “‘Af-ter Dark’. Never heard of it.”

“Please let a man read in peace,” murmurs Wonwoo, raising his mug to his lips and taking a sip. His nose wrinkles in mild disgust at the now-cold coffee. Junhui’s lip curls; of course he notices.

“I’ll just get you a refill,” the waiter says, leaning in to take the mug away. “Pro tip: If you’re going to be here all night, I recommend Piper’s Burger Deluxe,” he adds, tossing Wonwoo a smirk over his shoulder as he retreats to the kitchen. “Much more filling than our onion rings.”

Wonwoo lets out a soft sigh of defeat, then returns to his book to immerse himself in the atmospheric melancholy of Haruki Murakami’s world.

 

_11:00pm_

Around twenty members of the local university’s football team shatter the calm reverie of the diner, bursting in through the doors with their noisy cries of laughter. They frequent the restaurant often, judging by how the rather irritated cashier at the front desk merely looks up from his phone at their entrance. “Party of how many?” he asks, running a hand through his long blond hair. Dark circles tinge the pale skin beneath his eyes a bluish purple. 

“Twenty,” the captain of the football team – starting quarterback too, no? – answers, flashing the cashier his best attempt at a winning grin. “Jeonghan, can you be our waiter, please?” 

“I like my cashier job, thank you very much,” Jeonghan replies, his eyes glued to his phone. 

“But you’re cute,” he whines, pouting at the cashier, who continues to scroll down Instagram. “Just for tonight. Please?” Okay, maybe Seungcheol could care less about catching Jeonghan's fancy – at least, he was telling himself this – but the prospect of a pretty boy ignoring his advances stings. Never once has Seungcheol faced rejection in his flirting endeavors, and he wasn't planning on having Jeonghan be the first to turn him away.

“Seungcheol just wants to use the pickup lines he’s been practicing in the car,” someone snickers. The rest of the team roars in laughter as Seungcheol whips around to shoot the culprit a withering glare and Jeonghan suppresses a smile. Wonwoo looks up from his book at the noise and watches their interaction from a distance. 

“Menus are on the counter,” Jeonghan says, nodding towards them. “Just take ten and sit at the table all the way in the back.” Clearly, the workers at the diner take a lot of liberty with their protocol, but even rules such as etiquette relax themselves at this time of night, unraveling beneath the coils of steam rising from mugs of hot chocolate and coffee and the “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” by Frank Sinatra softly playing in the background.

As the boys take the menus and head over to the table, Seungcheol lingers behind at the front desk, unable to contain himself from gazing at Jeonghan. One of the last boys to take a menu stops in his tracks when he notices the crestfallen look on the captain’s face and emits a noise of mild contempt.

“Can I get your number, at least?” Seungcheol asks, ignoring the presence of his cheeky teammate, who immediately turns away to make his way towards his friends’ table until he makes eye contact with Wonwoo and freezes.

“Maybe” is all Jeonghan says in response, but it only takes him to quickly add in “Later” for a grinning Seungcheol to turn around and nearly sprint to his table. The other boy sneaks one last glance at Wonwoo before following Seungcheol.

 

_1:03am_

“Took you long enough,” Wonwoo comments as Junhui slides him a piping hot mug of coffee. He's given up on pursuing his initial goal of powering through  _After Dark_ at a nice, small diner with a somewhat relaxed ambience now that Wen Junhui is shirking his waiter duties and refuses to stop yammering his ear off and leave his side.

"Sorry, Minghao kept texting me," the waiter says airily, sliding into the seat across from him.

"For three hours straight," Wonwoo notes in mild amusement.

"Yup," Junhui shrugs, taking note of how Wonwoo ignores the saucer of cream and sugar and goes right to taking a sip from his mug. Wonwoo still thinks that it's unrealistic for Junhui to have texted someone for _three hours straight_ while on his shift, but he decides to drop it. He doesn't care too much about the subject to want to push it, anyway. “Oh, you’re one of those people who like their coffee as black as their souls.” 

“Thanks, I guess,” Wonwoo snorts. "So every person who likes their coffee black must be a soulless, sad excuse for a human being, then."

"You got that right. Only demons take their coffee black," Junhui smirks. A small  _ding_ sounds from the pocket of his jeans, and he reaches for his phone to check his notifications. "Right, my shift ends in less than a half hour. Thank god Minghao's picking me up." 

"You and Minghao are–" 

"Cousins," Junhui finishes, his mouth quirking at Wonwoo's eyebrow immediately shooting upwards. "Yeah, you're not the only person to think we're boyfriends." 

" _Us?_ Never in a million years," Wonwoo jokes. "What's his major?"

"I was talking about me and Minghao, you smartass," Junhui says, rolling his eyes. "I'd never want to go after your stick-thin, vampire ass. And I have no idea. Either Math or Physics. Or Neuroscience."

"Hey, vampires are cool. Speaking of vampires, you look like that one vampire boy in this Chinese soap opera who's useless and probably bi–" 

"I'm Chinese and have literally never heard of that show," Junhui frowns. "I'll admit to being gay, but useless? Come on, now. I recommended you the Piper's Burger Deluxe and brought you refills for your coffee and everything." 

"Which is what a waiter is supposed to do."

"Which means I'm not useless!" Junhui points out triumphantly, swiping an onion ring from the plate, much to Wonwoo's chagrin, and popping it whole into his mouth. "Hey, you aren't eating these, anyway." 

"I'll eat them, don't you worry," Wonwoo mutters, jumping a bit in his seat when a wave of raucous hooting and yelling erupts from the football team's table and shooting a dirty look in their direction. Junhui's gaze follows Wonwoo's to the table.

"Mm, they're not at all that bad," Junhui says, reaching for another onion ring and slowly tearing it apart into two. Instead of eating the halves, he sets them back onto the plate. "They only come on Friday nights after practice." 

"They're loud," Wonwoo responds, his nose crinkling slightly, as someone chucks some French fries at Seungcheol, who screeches a few colorful obscenities amidst low-pitched roars of laughter. 

Junhui shrugs. "At least they're cute. Like the one that's been looking at you nonstop for, like, the past two hours." 

"Not funny, Jun." 

"No, I'm completely serious." Junhui's phone dings, and he lets out a quiet whoop once he reads the text. "Minghao's here, gotta go." 

"He doesn't have time to say hi?" Wonwoo chuckles. "I want to meet this Minghao character." 

"No, you don't."

"Tell him his STEM fucker self can kiss my ass, then." 

Junhui snorts. "You can come with us back to the dorms if you want."

"It's fine. I think I'll stay for a little longer."

"I hope you have your key. No way in hell am I waking up to let you in," Junhui laughs, sliding out of the booth with a goodbye wave at Wonwoo before he disappears into the back of the diner. 

 

_1:31am_

A minute passes when a doe-eyed boy with gentle features and tousled hair the color of caramel enters the diner, his face lighting up once he spots Jeonghan. 

"Jeonghan," he greets, fiddling with the strap of his guitar case as he approaches the front desk. "I didn't know you... worked here."

"You would if you didn't ignore my texts, Josh," Jeonghan frowns, the slightest bit of annoyance tinging his words.

"Sorry, I was finishing up some song lyrics..." Joshua offers the cashier a sheepish smile.

"Song?" Jeonghan raises an eyebrow. "Is it for me?" 

The tips of the musician's ears immediately flush pink. "Yeah," Joshua answers softly, turning away shyly and staring right at the tiled floor.

A look of smug satisfaction replaces Jeonghan's frown, and he reaches over the counter to fiddle with the buttons of Joshua's flannel shirt. "Can I hear it sometime?"

Joshua nods, his hand that isn't toying with the guitar case strap hovering above Jeonghan's, which immediately clamps over Joshua's fingers. Heat rises to his cheeks, and it takes a while for him to look up from the ground to Jeonghan. But the cashier meets Joshua's shy, tender gaze and nearly melts under its sweetness, grinning at him almost stupidly.

"When can I hear it?" Jeonghan asks quietly, yet eagerly.

"I'm playing at Sawyer Hall next Friday at 9pm, if you wanted to come...?" Joshua answers. "It's me and a few other music majors. I think I'm last on the program, actually-"

"I'll come," Jeonghan declares. "Only if you promise to stop ghosting me."

"Ghost?" 

"Yeah, like ignoring my texts and shit."

"Oh, I would never, it was just that I was in the middle of-"

"Promise?" Jeonghan asks, letting go of Joshua's hand to offer him his right pinky.

Joshua nods, allowing their pinkies to entwine. He makes a mental note to ask Jun what on earth ghosting means later. 

"Do you want something to drink? It's on the house." Jeonghan was probably going to get into trouble again for making a single cute boy's order on the house for the hundredth time, but did he really fear the wrath of his manager? Not particularly. 

"No, I just wanted to stop by. Thank you, though."

Jeonghan squints suspiciously. "I thought you didn't know I work the night shift."

"Actually, I heard from Jun, so I wanted to surprise you..." Playful mischief traces Joshua's gentle smile, something Jeonghan doesn't fail to detect.

"Oh my god. Were you really pretending this entire time?"

Joshua's silence more than suffices as an answer.

"You little snakey son of a bitch," Jeonghan remarks, more out of disbelief rather than anger or irritation. 

"Well." Joshua shrugs. "When does your shift end?"

"Jun didn't tell you that?"

Joshua shakes his head no.

"I'm off duty in-" Jeonghan checks the clock of the cashier monitor - "ten minutes, but we can leave now."

"What do you mean, 'we'?" Joshua narrowly evades Jeonghan's punch to the shoulder, wearing a shit-eating grin. "Is it okay?"

"Yeah, Jin loves me." Considering the amount of times Jeonghan shows up to his shifts late and clocks out earlier than he's supposed to, it's a miracle he hasn't been fired yet and that his manager actually tolerates him. Joshua can't really do anything about the fact that Jeonghan is currently packing his belongings into his backpack until-

"Jock table wants the bill," a waiter tells Jeonghan, causing the cashier to roll his eyes. 

"Get their asses over here. They're supposed to pay up front."

"But they specified they want you to come to them."

Jeonghan lets out an exasperated sigh. "Alright. Josh, stay put for a hot sec." 

Joshua takes a seat in the waiting area as the blond marches over to the football players' table. 

 

_2:00am_

"Pay up and skedaddle, folks," Jeonghan announces, hands on his hips while wearing an unimpressed facial expression. "My shift's ending in five minutes and I don't want to keep my boy toy waiting." 

"Holy shit, Seungcheol, he just called you his boy toy," someone giggles. Wonwoo glances over at the table and recognizes him as the boy who had kept staring at him earlier. 

"Alright, Mingyu," Seungcheol says dismissively, but looks rather pleased with himself, running a hand through his hair. Perhaps he's relishing the fact that Cute Cashier has finally accepted his undeniably overwhelming love for and infatuation with Hot Jock, and that the two of them could be the most attractive and stunning couple on campus, and that- 

"Can I get that number, then?" Seungcheol asks at the same time Jeonghan snaps, "I wasn't talking about you." 

Wonwoo's eyes dart back to his book. 

The jock table is silent for exactly three seconds before someone lets out a tiny guffaw and the rest of the team explodes into laughter as Jeonghan returns to his post. A mixture of mortification and irritation flashes across Seungcheol's face before his jaw clenches, his lips press together into a thin line, and his facial expression becomes virtually unreadable. Still snickering, the athletes follow the cashier to the front desk as Seungcheol waits near the door, scowling at Jeonghan with his arms crossed. 

One of the linebackers pats Seungcheol on the shoulder before he hands Jeonghan his credit card. "Y'all can just Venmo me later," he says breezily as Jeonghan swipes his card, completes the transaction, and gives it back to the boy. All the athlete has to say in response to variations of "Thanks for paying, Jordan!" is "Y'all better pay me back or I'm gonna start hunting you down one by one" before he waves goodbye at his teammates and exits the diner.

"Where are we going now?" someone asks. 

"ABC Tofu House!"

"We literally just had pancakes, fool."

"Let's get milkshakes." 

"Tacos."

"Donuts."

"Enough food, man, let's go to a  _noraebang_ or something." 

"I don't give a shit where y'all go as long as you make it to practice at seven," Seungcheol shouts over the din of all of the noise his teammates are making. 

"Fuck, you right."

"I'm  _always_ right," Seungcheol sasses. "Now beat it, boys. I'm going home and passing out." 

When they finally take their leave, the athletes are significantly quieter than when they had entered the diner a few hours ago, most of them checking their phones and some of them suppressing yawns as they step through the doors and out into the coolness of the night. Only Seungcheol and Mingyu are left remaining in the diner, the former's eyes plastered to his phone and the latter glancing at Wonwoo once more. 

"Seungcheol." Surprised, the dark-haired boy looks up from his phone at the cashier. "Come here, I have something to give you." 

"If you humiliate me one more time-" Seungcheol begins once he moves closer to the front desk, cutting off when Jeonghan's index finger presses to his lips as if to quiet him. 

"Sorry about earlier," murmurs Jeonghan, who doesn't look sorry in the least bit but shoves a piece of paper into Seungcheol's sweatshirt pocket. "I work the night shift on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Text me whenever."

Seungcheol's face brightens, and he reaches into his pocket to pull out the note, smiling broadly as his thumb runs over the string of numbers imprinted in the paper. "I'll come on Sunday," Seungcheol says, giving Jeonghan an assertive nod and clapping Mingyu on the arm as he turns to leave. 

"Oh, I forgot to mention my boy toy Josh. Be nice to him, okay?" Joshua gets to his feet, slinging his guitar case over his shoulder and giving Seungcheol a warm smile, which the athlete completely snubs, quickly exiting the diner and vanishing into the sea of streetlights and neon colors. 

"You just gave _Choi Seungcheol_ your number?" Joshua asks, raising an eyebrow at Jeonghan.

"Yeah," Jeonghan shrugs. "Listen, he'll text me once tomorrow to say hey, leave me on read when I reply, and then ignore me for the rest of the semester. I don't care what he does with my number." 

"There are plenty of annoying and bad things he could do with your number, actually-" 

"Whatever," Jeonghan snaps. "Let's just get out of here." 

Meanwhile, Mingyu approaches Wonwoo's table, cocking his head and studying the other boy's face. He squints in concentration; he is trying to remember something. 

Wonwoo senses Mingyu's presence and lifts his face from his book, narrowing his eyes and looking at the athlete as if to size him up. His methodical gaze sweeps Mingyu from head to toe, noting his tall stature, tan skin, and pleasant disposition. 

Their eyes meet. Mingyu flashes Wonwoo a grin from ear to ear, baring his pointy canine teeth. Confidence is a good look on this person.

"You're Wonwoo, right? Jeon Wonwoo," Mingyu says.

Wonwoo merely nods in answer, keeping a cautious gaze fixed on the boy.

"I'm Kim Mingyu-"

"I know," Wonwoo says simply, leaving Mingyu blinking stupidly for a second, who then shakes away the look of bewilderment and slides into the booth across from Wonwoo. 

"Mind if I sit here?" 

"Aren't you supposed to say that before you sit down?" 

"Oh, right. Sorry." 

Wonwoo gives his shoulders a little shrug, taking a sip from his lukewarm coffee. Better lukewarm than stark cold. 

"Have you eaten yet?" Mingyu asks. 

Wonwoo pushes his plate of onion rings to the side. "I'm not hungry." 

"The Burger Deluxe is actually the best thing on the menu," Mingyu says needlessly. "Better than the In-N-Out Double Doubles, in my humble opinion. Everything in the burger just comes together so beautifully you can really taste perfection, you know what I mean?"

"I've never had it."

"What?" Mingyu's eyes nearly pop out of his head. "Are you serious?" 

"I don't really like burgers," Wonwoo answers with a shrug. 

"No way." Mingyu shakes his head in disbelief. "We have to change that. Soon." 

"'We'?" 

"You really think I'm going to skip out on witnessing your first experience of culinary heaven?" Mingyu scoffs. "No way." 

"Hm." Wonwoo mulls it over, his eyes suddenly narrowing in suspicion. He takes off his round glasses and sets them on the table, rubbing his eyes. "Why are you talking to me?" 

"Why not?" Mingyu answers. "Maybe I just want to get to know the person who shares Stats 101 and Psych 104 with me yet somehow has managed to never talk to me once. Not even once, can you believe it?"  

"What if I wasn't interested in talking to you?" 

"Why wouldn't you be interested in talking to me?" 

"Because there's no reason for you to approach me and act like we're close." Wonwoo bookmarks his page and closes his book, an indicator that their conversation has finally captured the whole of his interest and attention. 

"You're wrong," Mingyu declares. "There's plenty of reasons." Jeez, did hitting up a boy he found cute really have to be this difficult? 

"Name two." 

"You're cute and mysterious," Mingyu responds immediately. 

"The first is definitely false." Wonwoo's ears are tinged a light pink. "The second is a maybe."

"No, both are absolutely true. Round glasses suit you. And I don't think I need to explain how much of an enigma you are, considering how literally no one on campus knows anything about you. What you like, what you don't like, where you go most of the time." 

"Hm." Wonwoo thinks for a moment. "Do you want something?" 

Mingyu lets out an exasperated huff. "I've spent the last few minutes explaining why I genuinely want to get to know you. Really?" 

"Doesn't sound genuine," Wonwoo says, the corner of his lips curving upwards in mild amusement. 

"Don't mess with me." 

"Convince me, then." 

Mingyu perks up at the challenging tone of Wonwoo's words. "Will you let me take you out for  _bingsoo_?" 

"Right now?"

"When else?" 

Wonwoo thinks it over, then nods. 

"Mister Bingsoo is open 24/7 and is only a five minute walk from here, if you're up for it." 

Wonwoo nods again, the slightest hint of a smile flickering softly across his lips. 

Mingyu waits for Wonwoo to pay for his onion rings and coffee before leading him in the direction of the bingsoo cafe. 

Wonwoo needs some time to process everything that has occurred over the past several hours, ranging from his conversation with his roommate who happened to be a waiter at his favorite reading spot to whatever happened between the football team captain and the cashier. And of course, his first meeting with Mingyu, their college's modern Renaissance man and Adonis. Wonwoo still quite can't wrap his head around why  _Mingyu_ , out of all people, would want to talk to him outside of the classroom, but he can't say he's displeased.

A breeze ripples Wonwoo's hair and makes him shiver slightly. The air carries a certain foreboding chill, and he can't quite put a finger on why dread is suddenly crawling up his spine and tickling his stomach. It's as if something awful is going to happen soon, like a member of their shared community being mercilessly snatched up by death's talons and consumed in the darkness without a trace. Wonwoo briefly wonders if he's the only one in the entire city to feel so apprehensive, if everyone else isn't feeling the uneasiness he feels because they either can't or are ignoring it by drinking and sleeping their sorrows and regrets away.

Or maybe it's just the caffeine coursing through his veins doing the talking.

So the two boys walk on toward calamity through the cooling dawn and the bright lights. 

**Author's Note:**

> *noraebang: korean karaoke box  
> *bingsoo: korean shaved ice 
> 
> sources of inspiration: babybaby - suran, calling in love (feat. beenzino) - suran, and after dark by haruki murakami.
> 
> writing this was... quite the experience. i haven't written a fic in a long, long time, so my rustiness definitely shows in this. (although i do my best to proofread rip)
> 
> part 2 (aka the real deal) coming soon. thanks for reading.


End file.
